| As a management consultant I average about 70-80 | | | | importantly I was making a difference to my |
| seminars per year. In nearly all of them I'm trying to | | | | audience because I was helping them learn. |
| teach information. Until I stumbled across the secret | | | | To apply the model to building and running a seminar |
| formula for feeding information to my customers' | | | | simply take your topic and then apply each of the |
| brains my ratings were poor. Now I know how the | | | | headings e.g. if your topic is managing change you do |
| pro's do it, I regularly score 10/10. Read on to find | | | | the following: |
| out how you can too. | | | | "Why is managing change necessary?" "If you learn |
| About five years ago I almost gave up presenting. I'd | | | | the process for managing change you'll be able to |
| been asked to run a seminar for a large potential | | | | turn around failing companies fast, you'll save your |
| client. I spent two days preparing only to find that | | | | clients time and money" |
| had I been reading them the phone book I could | | | | "What is managing change?" "It originates from the |
| have got a better response. | | | | early 1900s, The days of Henry Ford and Afred |
| I was depressed. I had no idea how to plan a | | | | Sloan. The objective is to guide a sick company back |
| seminar much less present it so that I engaged my | | | | to full health." |
| audience. By luck I stumbled across the work of | | | | "How do I do it?" "Managing change is a three step |
| David Kolb, author of 1984 book, Experiential | | | | process, it starts with analysing the business, building |
| Learning: Experience As The Source Of Learning And | | | | a plan for change, and testing your hypothesis. Then |
| Development'. | | | | the cycle repeats." |
| Kolb explains that there are four types of learners. | | | | "What can I do If I learn to manage change" "The |
| 1. Those that that need to know "why" something is | | | | obvious application is to turn around ailing businesses, |
| worth learning. | | | | do it right and you can help lots of employees keep |
| 2. Those that need to know "what" it's about, i.e. | | | | their jobs. |
| background and theory on the topic. | | | | All you need to do now is spice up the "what |
| 3. Those that need to know "how", it's done this | | | | section" with a case study or example and you have |
| group wants the step by step process. | | | | a complete segment for running a seminar. |
| 4. Those that need to know "what if", i.e. what can | | | | Put three of those segments together, call it a |
| they do with this information. | | | | module. Build five modules and you have a full day's |
| This model, literally, changed my life. Once I knew | | | | course. Once you've done this a few times the |
| how to apply it, seminar planning became a breeze, | | | | process will be hardwired in your brain and you'll be |
| my seminar ratings went through the roof, I felt on | | | | able to do it easily at speed. |
| complete control when I ran a seminar, but most | | | | |